External Influences on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Writings

External Influences on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Writings

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson was a familiar title to me and prior to reading it I believed I was well versed about the story. I knew that Dr. Jekyll was an intelligent man who experimented with the idea of creating a more powerful version of him that would release

his deepest inhibitions. In addition, I believed that the people of the town were not fully aware of Mr. Hyde, only that there was a monster running about the city creating havoc. The townspeople would not be directly affected by Mr. Hyde and I most certainly never thought that Mr. Hyde was capable of murder. Furthermore, it was my thought that when people referred to another person as being like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that they could switch from being kind one minute to being irrational and short tempered the next. I never believe

the cliché to be in reference toward one’s physical aggression or anger. Finally, prior to reading the novel I believed that the novel was am indication to the times and the medical maladies that were present at the time that Stevenson wrote it.

Upon my completion of the book, I learned that while in some aspects I had the right idea on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the novel was much more insightful that I had ever imagined. Not only was Dr. Jekyll an intelligent man but he was very popular around his town as well as reputable in his society. Others

assumed he was an average man who was being blackmailed by Mr. Hyde for some misdeed that he had committed in his earlier years and that was their only connection.